advice needed on adding a dog to a 1 man springer pack 😀

[raspberrytinsel]

The current pack is only one 😀I have a 1.5 year old springer male (unneutered - ). I have owned springers for 2 decades now and this young lad is a lovely personality, gentle, energetic, quite bright, everything going for him. However he has quite bad separation anxiety. Now he isn't on his own much, but when he is he howls, barks etc. to a more than average degree. When he initially became ours, we had an elderly springer that he engaged with for his first 4 months with us and then we had to put the old lad to sleep. I am considering getting another dog. I do not want another spaniel breed but I would like him to have some company. I am used to terriers also. I love Jack Russells and have had 3 in the past. I know they can be full on as small breeds go. So my questions are this:

1. We can fully take on another dog, but should I work on his separation issues without getting another, i.e. would getting another help?

1. If I do get another, he is an unneutered male (and I literally do not want any discussion about neutering him) however if I do get another dog - a neutered male or female, which is the better option sex wise?

1. Any other small breed suggestions to suit this scenario or will a Jack Russell suit?

Any advice appreciated.

I have an unneutered male springer who was about that age when we got our second dog- a female cocker who we had as a puppy and is neutered. They have a lovely bond especially now that at 12 the springer is deaf.

However, I wouldn’t have thought the dog would help the separation anxiety if it is about being separated from you. Our springer has developed separation anxiety after being very unwell and to be honest when he is stressed he couldn’t care less if the other dog is there .

Thanks for the reply @tealandteal. Can I ask, I don't think it is personally me he is attached to or my husband, it is just being alone, there is me and my husband and a few kids in the house. If someone, anyone is in the house he is fine. So if another dog was present, I was hoping it might help him. It won't? I don't know what I have done wrong, I've never had this with any dog. What do you do for your fella?

Have you tried different combos of you all going out? DSpringer is specifically stressed if I go out, so even if DH is in he’s still upset. It came on suddenly after he had two operations with leaving him at the vets etc and he was very poorly.

Does anyone you know we’ll have a dog? If the dogs get on could you leave them for a short while to test?

Have you tried leaving the radio on? This doesn’t help us due to deafness but this does help some dogs. Also you can buy plug ins that are supposed to help. We have a Thundershirt which helps, and he has regular anti anxiety medication. He also has diazepam for when he is really bad(it’s almost like a panic attack and can happen if he can’t find me at night).
We have been building up slowly the amount of time we are leaving them for, haven’t had to give him diazepam in a few months and can leave for 1 hour before he starts barking. More importantly it has stopped at night as we also have 2 children and need all the sleep we can get! You can also see a behaviourist but we have not done this.